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Fostering mathematical creativity in the classroom requires intentional actions on the part of the instructor. We examine the teaching actions that students in a creativity-based Calculus I course report as contributing to their sense of creativity. Based on interview data, we found the four overall types of teaching actions: Task-Related, Teaching-Centered, Inquiry Teaching, and Holistic Teaching. We discuss subtypes as well as concrete actions, to provide actionable steps practitioners can take to foster students’ creativity. 

In this paper, we describe the student-reported affective outcomes from teaching actions of professors involved in a professional development experience to explicitly value creativity in their Calculus 1 courses. Using the four main teaching themes that emerged (Task-Related, Inquiry Teaching, Teacher-Centered, and Holistic Teaching), we further explored the data for affective outcomes resulting from teaching actions that foster student creativity. We observed five distinct affective outcomes: Enjoyment, Confidence, Comfort, Negative then Positive Feelings, and Negative Feelings. Enjoyment and Confidence were the most reported affective outcomes from the creativity-fostering teaching actions. Particularly, Enjoyment was reported the most from Holistic Teaching and Task-Related teaching actions; Confidence was reported the most from Holistic Teaching actions among all the types. Finally, we offer concrete creativity-based teaching actions that have the capacity to build students’ mathematical enjoyment and confidence.